PART I.
UNDERSTANDING THE SPACE
In order to elevate the current experience and really understand the pain points and challenges that the current state was experiencing, one of the first steps in this journey was to understand the Adtech space. As a person with no experience in the Adtech industry, it was a completely new space for me to wrap my head around and as I began my research, I learned a few key things:
1.
Customer service can go a long way!
Advertisers in the adtech space often ran into the challenge of seeking clear-cut and directional information, but in turn was met with DSP platforms that used jargon or would say “obtuse” things to try to be unique and set themselves apart as experts. What this actually did was make it confusing for the users seeking informational direction, especially for users in the space, that were potentially new to the market. Below is a direct quote from a Performance Media Lead from our Qualitative interviews:
2.
People want to understand the “WHY”
Through research and both qualitative & stakeholder interviews, I quickly learned that people in the adtech space developed a learned behavior of becoming cynical (understandably so) What this meant for me is that when our audiences are seeking out information, they need to be able to evaluate and understand the product value early on in their journey’s. This insight would come in handy, especially when thinking about Simplifi’s products, and how they tell their product story.
3.
There are varying audience mindsets
Going back to the first point about guiding users, I learned that my assumption that Simplifi users understood the space came from me viewing their platform and realizing that they positioned their site as such. The site was tailored for users very familiar in the space, using jargon and placing solutions upfront with no guidance or direction whatsoever. That said, from our qualitative interviews, I grasped the fact that there were many players in the field, and they all came with varying proficiencies.
This created a gap between Simplifi and their audiences, leaving users to feel as though they weren’t in a position to work with Simplifi or even causing users to leave the platform feeling as though Simplifi didn’t offer the services they needed.
PART II.
SYNTHESIZING INFORMATION
Using what we’ve learned about the Adtech space, we were able to start looking at the current experience with a focused lens. Hearing the pain points from the Stakeholder interviews and putting that in line with our insights from the landscape audit, we were able to synthesize our information and map out some of the key challenges that were hurting the platform both from an audience and business perspective.
Screens from the landscape audit analysis and current state screenshots
Pairing brains with the Product strategy and the Data Analytics and Research teams, we looked at our combined insights and put them into high-level categories that led spoke to the challenges of the platform. From here, we were able to synthesize our work and highlight 3 opportunities that we believed would equate to the strategic pillars that would help evolve the Simplifi site experience:
PART III.
CREATING ZONE DIAGRAMS
In tandem while we were defining our Strategic pillars, I began working to develop zone diagrams for the new site system. This diagram functions as page narratives that act as the building blocks in a toolkit allowing the client to see what can be rearranged or modified to tell unique stories within flexible areas on the page.
This allows us to create a foundational system that can sustain ideation because it is flexible, scalable, and actionable.
This allows us to create a foundational system that can sustain ideation because it is flexible, scalable, and actionable.
What was interesting about mapping out the zone diagrams was developing it for a system that was both scalable and inclusive of the additional acquisitions that Simplifi anticipated making. We created a set of template types that was suitable for the content existing on the site today and future-state proof for the content that would exist tomorrow.
PART IV.
MAPPING OUT WIRES
For our initial client review of the wires, we focused on speaking to the high-level templates. This conducted of a review of the Homepage, Landing pages, key pages that highlighted the offer of solutions Simplifi had, the detail pages, which focused on content level pages such as articles and case studies and of course the solution detail pages which led itself as the source of information for a key offering and was essentially key in the site experience.
PART VI.
COLLABORATING
After obtaining feedback on initial wires I worked speedily with our interaction designer to continue developing a system that utilized scalable and re-usable modules and components. This was the fun part. After thinking big and ideating on several fresh thoughts and ideas, a huge part of our process was trimming down to keep the most essential tools that would provide users with the most value.
For a few days and under a restricted timeline, we solidified our library of components, continued mapping out the experience and was able to begin planning another review for the finalized list of products.
For a few days and under a restricted timeline, we solidified our library of components, continued mapping out the experience and was able to begin planning another review for the finalized list of products.
Grouping our components into categories like, Content & pathing, Article Toolkits, Storytelling modules, Heroes, cards, and of course the bespoke pieces, we began packing up our products with clear definitions, page use cases and requirements to prepare for sendoff.
PART ViI.
FINALIZING
Through plenty of iterations and with a number of teams, we were able to deliver a product that showcased the breadth of Simplifi offerings through a cohesive brand story while optimizing their platform with a technologically powered brand transformation that presented Simplifi as experts in their space who connect with their audiences and rely heavily on human power.
The site recently launched so you can have a look here: https://simpli.fi/
The objective of the site is lead generation so it was important that some of our KPI's that would lend itself to signals that relied on traffic entry (how users are arriving at the site) user segments (who is using the site) and behaviors (how they respond to the experience)
IN CLOSING:
THE CHERRY ON TOP
One of my favorite parts about being an Experience Strategist and Product Designer is seeing how simple or complex ideas come to life through interactively functional products. One that stood out to me within this project was our solutions finder module. Because Simplifi has a number of solution offerings, ranging in categorical types, it was important that users were able to visualize the breadth of those solution offerings while simultaneously having the option to navigate to one, and learn more about it. Through feature ideation, I came up with an interactive tool that showcases the product category at a high level –whether it was a buying tool or a managing tool– and then enables users to see the breadth of offerings within each of those pre-defined categories. See how it came to life below :)
